Culinary ramblings of a mischievous cook. Recipes,pictures,diary entries and all things foodie.Follow a journey of life in the east Algarve, Portugal...

Saturday, 15 December 2012

Pudim Ingles-steamed sherry sponge a Christmas alternative

Little and Large

With the winter wind battering at the door its time to re-visit culinary yesteryear and drum up a
comforting old-fashioned steamed winter pudding.Here is a boozy pud that is one big Christmas treat that´s just for the adults.Using a comparatively local ingredient from just across the border - sherry - I
have tried to re-create one of my mother´s classic sponge puddings for which the recipe has long since disappeared. With no one responding to my recent
appeal on the Guardian word of mouth blog for a matching recipe I had to
start from scratch.To put you in the picture, I need to return to the 50´s and conjure up some kitchen nostalgia. My dear mother made full use of her pressure cooker. As a small child I used to drive her to near insanity by jumping up and down on the springy kitchen floor boards in order to pop the valve and cause that thrilling whooooooooosshhhhh and high pitched shrieking whistle as the steam let off.Not only that, I was always hanging around the kitchen like an expectant puppy in the hope that there would be a bowl of pudding batter that needed a finger dipping in it before it went to the sink to get washed up.

Not the recipe for Sherry Sponge Pudding that I was looking for.

Put two penny sponge-cakes into a buttered tart dish, pour over them a
wineglassful of sherry, let them stand until the wine is absorbed. Boil
half a pint of milk with two or three lumps of sugar, beat an egg up
with it, pour it over the cakes, and bake in a slow oven until the
custard is set, when turn out, and serve.

Cookery for Invalids: Persons of Delicate Digestion, and for Children by Mary Hooper, published in London in 1876.

Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.Beat the eggs,then slowly add them to the butter and sugar using an electric whisk or mixer.Sift the flour and baking powder together,then carefully fold into the egg,butter and sugar mix using a large metal spoon. Fold the ginger and 4 tablespoons of the sherry into the mix.

Mix the jam and the remaining sherry,then divide between the moulds.Spoon in the batter, filling the moulds two-thirds full. Fill another mould with any leftover
mix. Cover each mould with a large
square of foil with a pleat in the centre
to allow room, as the sponges will rise a
lot. Secure with string. Place the moulds
in a baking or roasting dish, then fill the
dish with water to come one-third up
the side of the moulds. Bake for about
1 hr or until the sponges have risen and
are cooked. If requiredthe puds can now be cooled,
then chilled. Reheat the same way they
were cooked for 20 mins or until hot. To serve, remove the foil. Gently loosen
the puddings with a knife and upturn
them onto plates. Serve with homemade
or bought custard.

Peel, core
and slice the quinces and then weigh them. Put them in a pan with the
water and simmer very gently until the fruit is really soft and mashed.Add
the sugar, stir until it is dissolved and boil the mixture rapidly
until the setting point is reached. Pot and cover the jam in the usual
way.

About Me

I´m a self-taught cook.From my childhood in Scotland through growing up in South East England, my mother was my formative influence. Holidays in Europe, America,Africa and Scandinavia fed me with culinary inspiration. Fifteen years of holidaying in Tavira, led me to up roots and follow the dream to live in Portugal. Here in Castro Marim we run a small guest house, Casa Rosada.Relocation has opened my eyes and taste buds to how recipes and their ingredients can change and develop when incorporated into another country´s food culture and how foreigners like myself adapt the local dishes,bringing a new slant to them.In the last three years I have been researching and cooking traditional Portugueses dishes and then inventing a modern twist to them. I´ve started this food blog so I can share new recipes and a slice of Algarvian life here at Casa Rosada here in Castro Marim.